Returned from Costa Rica

by "Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)" (galileo-humpkins)
Published 09/25/2017 at 13:32

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STARS: 5

Hey Oppo, Mrs. Humpkins and I arrived home from Costa Rica on Saturday so I thought I’d share some pics.

I will spare you the details of our issues with travel in getting there, and getting home, but I will say that if you book on Avianca Airlines, good luck to you. We were not planning on spending our first night of our Costa Rica trip in San Salvador, but we did. We also were not expecting to have to purchase last minute tickets (6 hours prior to departure) to get home on a different airline, but we did. Enough of that, on to the good stuff...

We stayed in Puerto Viejo . A small, wonderfully undeveloped town on the South Caribbean side of Costa Rica that is regarded as possibly the most culturally diverse town in CR. We chose PV because we wanted to be on the Caribbean side, and absolutely did not want a developed, tourist town. The people there are incredibly friendly and the food was fucking amazing. We were there for 5 days, but it was not nearly enough. Next trip down will have to be 9-10 days so that we can have a full week. We stayed at Hotel Banana Azul/Banana Verde Villas . Our ‘room’ was in fact a 2 floor one bed, 1.5 bath apartment with full kitchen, private plunge pool, outdoor shower, outdoor bed, decks and immaculate gardens. All for a nightly rate well under what someone visiting Chicago would pay.

If you’re curious to see the town or more about the place we stayed, click on the provided links. Now, a few of our pics:

That same day we visited the Jaguar Rescue Center Foundation . A center that rehabilitates animals for release back into the wild. Should an animal not be able to be released back into the wild they will become residents to live out their life in comfort and peace. They have two resident Ocelots, but they were both sleeping in little houses in their enclosures. While we could see them, we could not get good pics. Fun fact, they rarely have jaguars, almost never actually. It’s named Jaguar Rescue because the first animal they ever took in was a Jaguar.

A woman and her husband purchased a large parcel of land and because they were the only trained wild animal experts in the area (I forget the specifics) people started bringing them injured or sick animals. They never turned one down and still haven’t. As their foundation grew, they bought a 50 hectare area of jungle preserve nearby where they (re)acclimate their animals to the wild and ultimately release them. The couple have lived on the rescue center grounds in the main building since they bought it. Unfortunately the husband passed away last year, but the wife still lives there.

So on the hotel grounds it’s common to see monkeys and sloths, we saw a few during our stay that were way up in the trees. Then, on our second to last day, this guy showed up:

The baby sloth that showed up at Banana Azul was actually found crying, walking down the street in front of the main building. He had fallen from his mother. While it is possible that it was accidental, it could have been intentionally dropped. This is because sloths generally have 1 baby. If the mother has twins, it is not uncommon for the mother to drop the one she deems to be the weakest, and she leaves it to survive or die on its own.

For what it’s worth, the hotel staff did a great job of waiting and watching to see if they could spot the mother coming for it and keeping anyone/thing away from it for safety. When it became evident the mother was not coming, they wrapped him up and brought him into the main area. My wife and I were the first visitors to see him! They called the Jaguar Rescue and they arrived about 15 minutes later. It is rare, but sometimes works, that they can record the baby crying and play the recording and the mother will come, as each cry is specific to the baby and the mother knows it. Not sure what happened with this guy (we did hear them playing a recording of him crying the next morning), but I believe he is currently living at the rescue until he can be released.

You should go to Costa Rica.

Replies (4)

"BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo" (bluemazda2)
09/25/2017 at 13:50, STARS: 2

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I WANT A BABY SLOTH SO MUCH

THEY’RE SO CUTE

I WANT TO GIVE IT A HUG

"Nothing" (nothingatalluseful)
09/25/2017 at 14:10, STARS: 1

We went to the Pacific side for my brother in law’s wedding a couple of years ago. Really fun, peaceful area...where we were at least.

"Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)" (galileo-humpkins)
09/25/2017 at 14:27, STARS: 0

Yeah, both sides seem to have small undeveloped towns, large tourist towns, and everything in between. Also chose S. Caribbean because it’s actually pretty dry, even though it’s technically the end of the rainy season in Sept.

"Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)" (galileo-humpkins)
09/25/2017 at 14:29, STARS: 1

They are freaking adorable!